Neighbors
by Peeves and Ronni
Summary: Chuuya doesn't spend a lot of time in his apartment, but after one short work trip, he comes home to a bit of a surprise…
1. Volume Control

**Volume Control**

Hyata Luxury Apartments was a small complex; fit with five or six large, Western style flats and a view of the city that topped the view from some skyscrapers, the hilltop building sat precariously near the edge of Yokohama City. It was close enough to Port Mafia's headquarters that Chuuya could drive to and from fairly quickly, yet far enough away to be a nice, quiet place to retreat to whenever he found the time to unwind. Or at least, that's what it was supposed to be.

For some reason absolutely fucking beyond him, his landlord had accepted a new tenant with absolutely zero concept of volume control, because the apartment right across from his had had music blaring out from it from the very moment he got home from his last…business trip. At first, he hadn't really minded—his neighbor had exceptionally good taste in tunes—but then he tried to take a nap. And it was then that he realized how abysmally loud and bombastic his neighbor's music was. Fast paced, upbeat…and hard as fuck to sleep through.

He had tried, at first, being stubborn as he was, and for about fifteen minutes he found himself getting progressively angrier as one loud song bled into another loud song. He was nearly at his breaking point when finally a melody traveled into his living area that was soft and gentle…for about one minute. And once the song broke into full blast, Chuuya cracked.

"That's fucking it!" He roared as he sprang from his couch and stomped to his front door, not even bothering with shoes on the way out. He crossed the hall in a matter of seconds and pounded on the door violently. "Turn down your fucking music!" He bellowed at the door, and in a matter of seconds, the music stopped entirely. He paused a mere moment before letting out a short huff of approval and turning back to his open door. But after two steps back across the hall, he heard the door to his neighbor's apartment swing open, and he turned to look at them almost instinctively.

And that was when he locked eyes with her—the source of his grief that afternoon, and he was…honestly surprised. If he didn't know any better, he might have thought she was a high schooler, but then, he somewhat doubted that she would be home at this hour on a Monday if she were a student. Her dark brown eyes seemed to be studying him curiously, while her short brown hair fell a little into her face and suggested that she had burst towards her door at an alarming speed. He frowned in the few seconds she took to examine him, the silence awkwardly stagnating between them until her expression transformed into one of…enthusiastic delight.

"YOU'RE BACK!" she exclaimed as she pounced towards him, wrapping her arms around him as if he were a long lost friend. "From…!" she hesitated a moment, her arms loosening slightly while Chuuya's gaze traveled down to her in bewilderment. "You know I probably should have listened when my uncle told me where you'd gone," she murmured before squeezing him again, "BUT YOU'RE BACK!"

"Uh…kid I think you have the wron—" Chuuya was cut off as the young woman yanked him into her apartment, closing the door behind him and practically skipping into the living room as she beckoned him to join her.

"I've been really excited about meeting you, Uncle always talks about you so fondly, of course that might have to do with the bonus you add to your rent, but he also said your job was pretty cool," the girl pointed behind herself for a moment, "by the way, the kitchen's over this way, feel free to sit down and make yourself at home, I'm gonna go start some tea!"

Chuuya blinked as the girl trotted gleefully towards the room to his left, and despite not really understanding what had just happened, he found himself stepping farther into the woman's apartment and studying its furnishings. Much like his apartment, the style was very Western, albeit a more contemporary look compared to the more Victorian style that his flat had. He shuffled over to her squashy leather sofa and sat down, still a little too bewildered to just stand up and walk back out of her apartment. And to add to that, her sofa was a little more comfortable.

Chuuya continued looking around the flat awkwardly, noting that unlike his apartment, hers hadn't included a stairway before the landlord turned the building into a complex, and as a result she had a spiral staircase poking a hole in the left side of her living room ceiling. The space was fairly clean, and minus a small stack of cardboard boxes near the door, he saw almost no evidence that she'd moved in recently, but then, he had been away for over a week, so that wasn't too surprising. Chuuya scowled slightly and tapped his foot with a mixture of impatience and indecision. For one, he had no reason to stick around in this woman's living area, it wasn't as if she'd introduced herself or even formally invited him in, but on the other, if he had wanted tea she was certainly taking her damn time getting back with it.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!"

Chuuya glanced to his left as his new neighbor hopped over the edge of the couch with a tray of cookies balanced in one hand.

"Originally I was going to make daifuku, but they had a really good sale on sugar cookie dough at the local corner store so I caved. Ah right and I put the kettle on the stove did I remember to turn the stove on though?" she placed the tray in her hand smartly on the coffee table and brought her hand to her chin, and Chuuya gave the woman a hard stare as he began wondering how long he'd be able to handle living next door to her. "Yes. I did," she confirmed to herself before turning towards him and holding out her hand, "hi! I'm Hyata Kiyo, your new neighbor!"

Chuuya looked between her and her hand before hesitantly shaking it. "Nakahara Chuuya," he answered shortly.

"Mhm!" Kiyo replied gleefully, "Uncle Jun told me so! Kinda surprised that I remembered though I'm usually awful with names…so where are you getting back from?"

"…Kyoto…"

"Cool! You know I've never been to Kyoto! Kinda funny if you think about it. I've been to New York and Italy, but never Kyoto. Usually it's the reverse!"

"You've been to New York?"

"Yeah! Just got back actually. And then I did spend a year and a half abroad from New York in Italy. Though I guess I was already studying abroad in New York…what would that make Italy?" Kiyo tilted her head thoughtfully before answering herself with something he only half understood. "Kaigai-ception."*

"What in the world is that?"

"A meme," she responded blankly just as a whistle went off in the kitchen. "Oh! That's the tea! Hold on!" Kiyo climbed over the back of the couch again and jogged back into the kitchen, leaving Chuuya to perk an eyebrow and wonder if she walked around her furniture like a normal person. Jumping over the back of the couch was pretty fun though, he noted with an impish smirk. He let out a soft yawn just as he heard her trotting back from the kitchen. "I don't know what your preference is on tea so I just brought out everything…I suppose I could have asked but I didn't want to be too loud…"

Chuuya let out a soft chuckle at that. "You didn't seem to mind being loud a few minutes ago."

She flustered severely at the casual comment, and after placing the tray of tea down on the coffee table, he found himself dumbfounded again as she bowed deeply. "Please forgive my rudeness! I didn't realize that you'd come home already!"

"…It's fine…but can I go back to my apartment now?"

"Huh?"

"I was trying to take a nap," Chuuya stated bluntly as Kiyo glanced up at him in utter confusion. It took a moment for her to come to recognition of what he meant, but as it clicked, she flustered even more.

"I…did I forget to actually invite you over…?"

"Yes, you did," Chuuya replied, and a soft smirk graced his features as she turned away from him and muttered what sounded like an English swear word.

"I'm…jeez, I'm really sorry, I have this bad habit of being aggressively friendly and I'm pretty sure living in New York and Italy actually made it worse. Americans and Europeans are very emotional people…if you want I can still make some tea for you, I do have jasmine or chamomile and if you want you can take the mug over with you I mean it's the least I could do…"

Chuuya considered the offer for a moment returning his gaze to the ever expectant woman. "Do you have anything a little stronger?"

"Stronger?"

"Liquor?"

Kiyo blinked, hesitating only a moment before sprinting back into her kitchen. Chuuya shrugged at the woman's speed, wondering briefly if she'd studied abroad for athletics, but after recognizing what seemed to be a cello case and a violin case out of the corner of his eye, he came to the conclusion that he was probably wrong. He let out a soft sigh as he heard Kiyo's footsteps returning from the kitchen, and he lifted himself off the couch in time to see her approaching him with a glass bottle of amber colored liquid and two shot glasses. "My best friend in the States gave this to me as a going away gift. She insisted that I needed to use it to make up for all the parties we didn't go to. Wanna crack it open?"

"Brandy?" Chuuya inquired as he read the bottle's label. "You sure you don't wanna save this for a more festive occasion?"

"Well, on one hand, finally meeting the elusive Nakahara Chuuya that Uncle Jun's been telling me about is pretty damn festive to me…"

"I wasn't aware that I had such a legacy," he interjected wryly.

"And on the other, the only people I could invite to a party would be you, who's going to take a nap, our neighbors, who are still at work, my Uncle, and any of the high school friends that I had that I still know through Facebook. That still live here. And between you and me…I don't want any of them to know I'm back in Japan. So…should we crack a bottle or…?"

"If you insist…" Chuuya smirked as he took a shot glass from Kiyo and waited patiently as she twisted open the bottle and poured the brandy. She placed the bottle down on the front table only a few paces away before returning back to in front of him.

"…To being neighbors?"

"You expect me to toast to that after the commotion you made?" Chuuya grinned as he watched the heat rise in her face.

"I-I apologized, okay? I didn't know…"

"Oh I know you apologized, you're just never gonna live it down," Chuuya threw back the glass of brandy, his face scrunching up slightly as the hard liquor scorched its was down his throat. "Good stuff…" he glanced back up at Kiyo and snorted a bit as he saw her pouty expression, which only served to exaggerate her look before she too downed her glass of brandy, doubling over a second later at the taste.

"You don't have to be mean about it," she coughed as he started for the door.

"And you didn't have to play your music that loudly," Chuuya retorted with a grin as he opened the front door to her apartment and realized that he'd never closed his. "If any of my shit is missing, you're paying for it."

"I suppose that's fair…ah, uh…Chuuya-san!"

"Yeah?"

"If you want, you're welcome to come back over after your nap."

Chuuya hesitated as he stepped back into his apartment and grabbed the door. After a moment more, he smiled at the offer. "I'll think about it."

oooOOOooo

 _asterisks:_

 _*kaigai-ception: prior to this word Kiyo is simply speaking fluent Japanese, but here she slipped into English for half a word to make an inception joke about studying abroad while she was studying abroad (kaigai being the Japanese word for "abroad")_

oooOOOooo

 _Soooo…hi. Welcome to_ Neighbors _, a written study into what Chuuya would do if his neighbor was part puppy. So as may be expected, this fic is going to focus mostly on Chuuya and Kiyo getting to know each other through various events that happen during the sporadic days that he's actually home, but in the case of requests or any opportunity I give myself, I can expand on that. So…disclaimers…_

 _1\. I do not own Bungou Stray Dogs or any of its characters or world, I only own my OCs_

 _2\. Given that I am not Japanese, not a musician, and not multilingual, most of what I will be writing (especially in the case of Kiyo) will be researched, but that does not mean that I will get everything right. Feel free to politely point out anything that I messed up—I stress pointing it out politely._

 _3\. The canon plot to Bungou Stray Dogs will most likely not be touched on in this, whether or not this is pre-canon, canon-divergent, post-canon, or in between canon is something that will likely be left to interpretation. If all else fails though, just imagine that it's Yokohama City whenever things have not gone to shit._

 _4\. Is this a ship fic? Quite possibly. Am I going to 100% definitely make it a romantic ship? Dunno._

 _5\. This fic may or may not end up coming hand in hand with a comic, I'm still trying to decide. If it does it'll most likely be snippets from the chapters and small scenes that happen outside the chapters, as opposed to a comic book version of this._

 _So fave follow and review if you liked it, and I'll make an update as soon as I can!_


	2. Interruption

**Interruption**

He couldn't help himself. The next Wednesday he'd walked into the entrance hall in the late afternoon and had heard a fairly sweet violin melody trailing out of Kiyo's apartment, and he couldn't help it. It wasn't nearly as loud as her music, but the opportunity to tease her was simply too good to pass up.

So once Chuuya reached his door, he knocked on hers just loud enough to grab her attention and halt the melody. "Are you gonna learn to be quiet one of these days?" He asked through the door with a smirk. "Always so damn loud." Chuuya stepped back towards his door and unlocked it slowly, waiting until he heard her door swing open dramatically.

"I do have sympathy for your exhaustion, Chuuya-san, but I do have to practice for my job, and if the piece says fortissimo, I do have to play very loudly. Can't practice mezzo-piano and expect the same results."

Chuuya smirked a little wider and turned around, leaning on his apartment door as he faced the woman standing across from him. "Sure you can't," he said smartly.

"That would be correct," Kiyo replied blankly.

Chuuya chuckled at that. "It sounds pretty good. What's it from?"

"It's the solo part of Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto."*

"Huh. I don't think I've heard of that one."

"It's a good piece, I'd recommend looking it up. Or you could just come to the show."

"When is it again?"

"There's a show tomorrow, Friday, Saturday and Sunday."

"I probably won't have time," Chuuya stated softly.

"Work?"

"Yeah."

"You just got back from work right?" Kiyo suddenly lit up with excitement, and Chuuya held up a hand warning her to stop.

"Ahem. Use your words," he stated frankly, causing her to shrink a little and pout.

"…Wanna come over for some tea?"

"Aren't you supposed to be practicing?"

"I've already clocked in five hours of practice today, not including rehearsal at the concert hall. Please? It's been a week and a half since you last came over."

"I didn't really get much of a choice last time, if memory serves."

"Th-That was…" Kiyo pouted again, and Chuuya couldn't help but laugh.

"Fine, just let me put away my coat," he murmured as he turned back to his door. Kiyo let out a soft squeal of delight behind him, and he glanced back just in time to stop her mid pounce. "Kiyo-chan, we talked about this."

She whined slightly before letting her arms flop to her sides. "Sorry…I hug by force of habit…"

"I will break you of your bad American habits yet," Chuuya responded dryly as he unlocked his door.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure I got the touchy-feely thing from Italy. Americans are only cool with hugs from close friends most of the time. Wait, I was friends with most of the people in my class…"

"Bad foreign habits, then?" Chuuya offered as he opened his door and stepped into his apartment a smirk still playing on his face as he left Kiyo to contemplate where she'd formed her hugging habit.

oooOOOooo

"You know, when I think of concertmaster in an orchestra, I usually don't think of a person like you," Chuuya spoke up softly as he paced around Kiyo's living room, making the woman shrug from where she was seated on her dining room table, tuning her violin.

"Most people don't. It's rare to find a violinist that isn't an antisocial recluse or a music elitist, or some terrifying combination of both. That goes double for the talented ones. At least that's what my roommate in the States told me, but she was a drama major, so she might've had a skewed view of it."

"I see," Chuuya murmured as he looked around her living room once more. Nothing had really changed much—same squashy leather sofa, same flat screen tv pinned to the wall, same glass coffee table and wooden floor. The boxes by the front door were gone, and her dining room table looked a little cluttered, but otherwise the place hadn't changed much since his last visit. "So I suppose you and your 'aggressively friendliness' are the oddball out, huh?"

"Sorta. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with people, but I don't mind being alone for days on end."

"Really? You seem pretty adamant about spending time with me."

"Well, you aren't here very often, and we're also neighbors. I think my fascination with you is pretty justifiable."

"Or maybe you're just nosy," Chuuya teased.

"Yeah, a bit. So," Kiyo started as she finished tuning her violin and placed it back in the case next to her, "what do you do for a living, Chuuya-san?"

"That…is a secret. And I may be mistaken, but I believe that when you invite someone over for tea, you're supposed to actually serve tea."

"Oh…so is it something illegal? Also I put the kettle on the stove before I started tuning my violin."

"Doesn't matter whether it's legal or illegal, it's still a secret. And you remembered to turn the stove on?"

Kiyo stared at Chuuya for a moment while she slowly lowered the lid of her violin case, her expression so vacant that he swore if he'd asked her at that moment she wouldn't even remember her own name. "That…is a good question…" Kiyo hopped off the table and scuttled into her kitchen, disappearing entirely from Chuuya's view for a moment. "Nope!" A mere second later her head popped out into the doorway. "So illegal then."

"I never said that," Chuuya replied as she walked back out of the kitchen.

"Well why would you hide it if it's legal?"

"Because it's a secret."

Kiyo let out a short huff before hopping over the edge of her couch. "Fine then. Wanna watch some tv while the water boils?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"…Uhhh…" Kiyo squirmed a bit before speaking up again. "You're the guest, your choice first."

Chuuya perked an eyebrow at that. "I've got no preference."

"…You sure?"

"I'm sure. Besides, I'd like see what you're so nervous about."

"I-I'm not nervous!"

"Sure you aren't," he grinned as he joined her on the couch and picked up the remote, flicking on the tv and causing Kiyo to let out a soft whine. The flat screen flickered to life with a random drama, causing him to squint at the channel logo. "Is this a drama channel?"

"No!" Kiyo shouted at him, her face beet red.

Chuuya could only laugh. "You're a drama junky?"

"Nooo!"

"Why are you so embarrassed by it?"

"…Cause…well…I…Penny always said they were too cheesy and I felt bad about liking them…"

"Penny?"

"My best friend back in New York."

"Aha. Well if you ask me, it's perfectly reasonable for a Japanese person to like Japanese dramas. Especially a woman."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Kiyo narrowed her eyes into a soft glare, making Chuuya grin impishly. "It means you have the makings of a fine housewife."

"How does being a drama junky make me a good housewife?!"

"Well…alone it doesn't…but then…you keep your house clean…"

"Only the parts that guests see!"

"You bake a lot…"

"You've only caught me baking five times!"

"You're weak to corner store sales."

"Everyone likes saving money!"

"And you constantly invite people over for tea."

"It's not…it's not that constant…"

"Kiyo-chan, we've run into each other six times in the past week and a half. Have you ever not invited me over for tea?"

"No…"

"Case in point."

"W-Well it doesn't matter anyway, 'cause I'm not gonna be a housewife."

"Well I did gather that," Chuuya smiled at her pouty expression just as a whistle went off in the kitchen, making Kiyo's head swerve towards that room.

"What's your tea preference again?"

"Hmm…I suppose I'll have what you're having?"

"So oolong is fine?"

"Sure."

"'Kay." Kiyo climbed over the back of the sofa and trotted towards the kitchen. Chuuya watched her briefly before turning his attention back to the tv, though he admittedly found more amusement in Kiyo's actions than in whatever absurd drama was on. It was some sort of high school romance, from what he could tell. Chuuya tuned out of it easily, instead craning his head back and listening to Kiyo clatter around in the kitchen. He could admit it, Kiyo was far more bearable than he'd initially thought she'd be. Despite seeming clingy and overbearing at first, she was more or less harmless, cheerful, and excessively friendly.

And she did correct herself fairly easily—he'd been rather crabby the third time they'd met in the hall and it hadn't taken much of her bubbly nature and difficulty understanding personal space to get him to snap. She'd been careful the next time, albeit just as friendly, and on some level he had to admit to being glad he hadn't scared her off. There were times when her cheerfulness did unfortunately remind her of that bastard Dazai, but where his demeanor was all spite and pretense, Kiyo was overwhelming in her sincerity. At the very least, she never seemed to have an ulterior motive.

"So which mug do you want? Sparkly fairies, or Santa?" Kiyo's face suddenly popped into Chuuya's line of vision, and he perked an eyebrow at the question.

"Santa? Isn't that a little out of season?"

"Enormous tea mugs are never out of season," she replied blankly as he lifted his head up and glanced behind him at the mugs she had in her hand—which were far bigger than they needed to be. "Any preference?"

"The Santa mug seems like the lesser of two evils."

"What does that mean?" Kiyo asked as she passed him the mug and walked around the edge of the couch.

"It means that I don't want fairies on my mug."

"Oh. Soooo…" Kiyo flopped down on the couch and crossed her legs, "what do you do for fun?"

"Hm?"

"You have hobbies, right?"

Chuuya glanced briefly at the girl before returning his gaze to the tv and taking a sip of his tea. "Not really. I'm usually working."

"So you just work, sleep and eat?"

"Well I hit the bars on occasion."

"Hmmmnnnn…that's so boring…"

He laughed at that. "I think my job is interesting enough to make up for that."

"Well you won't tell me what your job is."

"Because it's a secret."

Kiyo puffed out her cheeks childishly. "How am I supposed to get to know you if you won't answer my questions?"

"What makes you think I want you to get to know me?"

"Because you came over for tea."

"Like you would have stopped asking when I said no."

"I would have!"

"Until the next time we ran into each other."

"That's…! That's besides the point!"

"Mhm, keep telling yourself that, Kiyo-chan."

"You're so unfair, Chuuya-san," she mumbled into her tea.

"Oh?"

"You have me at a disadvantage. You know a lot about me already, but I don't know much about you."

"It's hardly my fault that you're an open book."

"I like being an open book."

"Well I prefer to have my secrets."

"Will you tell me eventually?"

"Perhaps," Chuuya shrugged, "but you're nowhere near being close enough for me to consider it."

"Okay. I'll just have to become close enough then," Kiyo said simply, drawing Chuuya's surprised gaze back to her. He stared at her for a while; his mind wandered briefly along the concept that it may be better to distance himself from her right now. But…to be honest, it probably wasn't necessary, nor was it likely to work without an absurd amount of effort on his part. No matter how trustworthy Kiyo was, right now it was fairly apparent. He and Kiyo were from very different worlds. No matter how much he could trust her, it would probably take a miracle to bridge that gap.

Chuuya's gaze returned to the tv, his expression flicking into a sly mask to disguise how much her reply had thrown him off guard. "Good luck with that."

oooOOOooo

 _asterisks:_

 _*Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto is a very real violin concerto composed by two Chinese composers (He Zhanhao and Chen Gang) in 1959. It is one of the most famous modern pieces in Chinese music and I would recommend looking it up, because it is really beautiful (fair warning though, the full concerto is about 30 minutes long)_

oooOOOooo

 _Alright nerds, disclaimers:_

 _1\. I do not own Bungou Stray Dogs or any of its characters or world, I only own my OCs_

 _2\. Given that I am not Japanese, not a musician, and not multilingual, most of what I will be writing (especially in the case of Kiyo) will be researched, but that does not mean that I will get everything right. Feel free to politely point out anything that I messed up—I stress pointing it out politely._

 _3\. The canon plot to Bungou Stray Dogs will most likely not be touched on in this, whether or not this is pre-canon, canon-divergent, post-canon, or in between canon is something that will likely be left to interpretation. If all else fails though, just imagine that it's Yokohama City whenever things have not gone to shit._

 _4\. Is this a ship fic? Quite possibly. Am I going to 100% definitely make it a romantic ship? Dunno._

 _5\. This fic may or may not end up coming hand in hand with a comic, I'm still trying to decide. If it does it'll most likely be snippets from the chapters and small scenes that happen outside the chapters, as opposed to a comic book version of this._

 _So fave follow and review if you liked it, and I'll make an update as soon as I can!_

 _p.s.- About Chuuya teasing Kiyo for having the "makings of a fine housewife", contrary to how it might sound, he's not being sexist, he's just teasing Kiyo about the number of housewife stereotypes she shamelessly complies with._


	3. Making Dinner for Two

**Making Dinner for Two**

After about two months of living next door to Kiyo, Chuuya was starting to recognize their occasional hallway meetings as an unavoidable and rather enjoyable occurrence in his life. They had both been busy since her arrival, what with his work in the Mafia and her practicing for her concerts in Kawasaki,* but somehow Kiyo always found time to catch him in the hallway and strike up a small conversation. Usually it had something to do with her life—whatever corner store sale had her excited, her recent baking adventures, which pieces she liked most in her concerts—but sometimes they would find a common ground, and the conversation would continue until one of them insisted that they couldn't stay any longer.

At one point they'd nearly spent an entire hour chatting outside their doors, with Chuuya doubling over in laughter at the elaborate tales Kiyo made her life into. There were times when they almost sounded more interesting than anything that happened to him, though he knew for a fact that they weren't. And then, there were the days where they didn't run into each other, days where they left at different times or worked later than normal, or simply missed each other by a few minutes. Today had been one such day. Chuuya had arrived home sometime in the evening to a quiet hallway; he'd situated himself on his couch shortly upon arrival and had taken out his phone to absently scroll through the evening news articles.

For the most part, there was nothing in the local news that he didn't already know about. The Port Mafia had their toe in just about every local event within the past week, and Chuuya himself had played a role in almost every one. So Chuuya looked into international news for a while figuring that if it wasn't enough to sedate his boredom for the night he'd go out to the local bars. He only got through half an article on a robbery in Tokyo before a unusually cheerful knock sprung up at his front door, and he gave the entrance a sidelong look of bemusement before standing up to answer it.

As he expected, Kiyo was standing on the other side, a curious expression plastered across her face as she peeked into the doorway at him.

"Good evening, Kiyo-chan," he said as he opened his door a little wider. "Did you need something?"

"O-Oh, well uh…not really, but…uhm, I made some castella, did you want some?"

Chuuya perked an eyebrow and glanced down at the little plate of cake slices she was holding before smiling and addressing her once more. "I see you remembered my favorite dessert."

"Well it's not like you've given me much else to remember…"

"It's really a shame that I haven't had dinner yet," Chuuya continued as he leaned on the door frame, "Otherwise I might have taken you up on that offer."

"You haven't had dinner?"

"Nope."

"Weeeeelll what a coincidence, neither have I," Kiyo said slowly, "maybe we can have dinner together?"

"Hmm…well, as much as I like your cooking, Kiyo-chan, I actually wanted to cook tonight."

"I don't mind if you do the cooking!"

"Kiyo-chan, I don't know my way around your kitchen."

"Well we could always use yours…?"

Chuuya's eyebrows knit together as he realized what her aim was. "Kiyo-chan, are you…inviting yourself over?"

"No!" Kiyo glanced back and forth blankly, and he couldn't help but smirk at how piss poor her poker face was. "Noo!" She repeated more firmly, only to wither a second later as Chuuya raised his eyebrows. "Yes…"

"How very forward of you," he remarked flatly, "but isn't inviting yourself over a little rude?"

Kiyo's cheeks went beet red as she attempted poorly to stammer out a rebuttal. "I-I-I guess it w-would be under normal c-circumstances…b-but I have a very good excuse!"

"Oh?"

"W-Well…" her gaze flickered around the hallway, and Chuuya struggled to keep composure over how anxious she was. "You've been in my apartment several times over the past two months granted you were always invited over by me but I am really curious about what your apartment looks like and you've never invited me over—" Kiyo paused to gasp for air dramatically and Chuuya couldn't help but break into a fit of laughter.

"You don't have to hold your breath, Kiyo-chan!"

"So I figured that I could ask to come over and that you could say yes or no and that maybe we could have dinner and I'd make dessert and I just really wanted to hang out with you before I leave," Kiyo let out a short affirmative huff as Chuuya finally managed to compose himself and lean his weight on the door frame. He processed through her reasoning a little longer before gracing her with a look of confusion.

"…You're leaving?"

"Hm? Oh, well…the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra* is going on tour tomorrow in Europe starting tomorrow…did I forget to tell you that?"

"You might have mentioned it a while back," Chuuya admitted.

"But if I did, you forgot?"

"Yeah."

"That's fair I guess. So…can I come over for dinner or…?"

"That depends, Kiyo-chan. Are you going to make a habit out of this?"

"No! Noo!" Kiyo hesitated, biting her lip a bit before admitting the truth. "…Only if you were okay with it…"

Chuuya chuckled in response. "I'm going to have fun exploiting that bad poker face of yours."

"Hey!"

"You can come in, by the way," he continued as he opened the door wide enough for her to pass through. "and next time, invite yourself over a little more bluntly."

Kiyo stared at him for a few seconds before stepping past him into his apartment, her expression vacant once more as she processed his response. "Wait. So I can invite myself over?"

"I'm honestly surprised you didn't do so sooner," Chuuya replied as he walked back into his living room, pausing only briefly as she slipped off her shoes. "Didn't you say that you're aggressively friendly?"

"I am!" Kiyo chirped as she finished kicking off her shoes and trotted up to him. "But I'm also concertmaster to one of the top eight orchestras in the country.* That kinda takes priority."

"Ahuh."

"So where should I put the castella? The fridge?"

"I'll take it. Just find a seat somewhere while I'm making dinner."

"Dining room or living room?"

"Kitchen, preferably. I don't want you going through my shit while I'm not looking," Chuuya smirked and took the plate from Kiyo while a furious blush crept onto her face once more.

"I-I wouldn't look through your stuff, Chuuya-san!"

"You're a fucking riot…aren't you the same woman who tries to get me to tell her my job every time we run into each other?"

"…I'm curious, not criminally inclined."

"Right, you're curious," Chuuya remarked as he stepped into his kitchen and opened the fridge. "What's that saying again? Curiosity killed the puppy?"

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"I think puppy works better in this context." Chuuya placed the plate of castella in his fridge and began scanning the shelves for some dinner ingredients. "Does fried rice work for you?"

"Sure!" Kiyo said while trotting into the kitchen archway. "Sounds pretty homey actually."

"I don't really make fancy meals too often. Most of the time I just get takeout." Chuuya began grabbing ingredients out of the fridge, glancing vaguely at Kiyo out of the corner of his eye before watching her disappear behind him, having likely noticed the one stool he had in his kitchen space.

"We have that in common."

"This coming from the queen of baking?"

"Cooking and baking are two very different beasts and anyone who told you otherwise was probably an alien."

"Alien like foreigner or alien like green monster from outer space?"

"…Yes."

Chuuya rolled his eyes as he finished procuring the last ingredients from his cabinets and began preparing the food. "You are honestly the strangest person I've ever met, Kiyo-chan. And that's saying something, considering the people I work with."

"Oh? What kinda people do you work with?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"Yeah, um, that would be why I asked, Chuuya-san."

"Well I'm still not gonna tell you."

Kiyo pouted at that. "Meanie."

Chuuya only smirked wider at her disappointment. "So where in Europe are you going? Anywhere you've been before?"

"Well…we are going to Italy for a bit…and I did do a day trip to Germany at one point and we're going there too…and we're also visiting Switzerland and Austria. There are a few others but those are the big ones."

"Interesting. I've never been to any of those places."

"Really?"

"Yeah. My work is strictly in Japan. Well, occasionally China, but never anywhere in Europe."

"Huh. But you've been to Kyoto, right? That sounds really fun!"

"Well, it was fun," Chuuya smirked slyly, "but I wasn't there for the sight-seeing."

"…Why do you keep teasing me like that?"

"Teasing you like what, Kiyo-chan?"

"You won't tell me what you do for a living but keep throwing me vague hints. Or referencing it."

"I'm not allowed to talk about the fact that I have a job?"

"Well, of course you're allowed to…"

The two sank into silence for a while, Chuuya focused on chopping vegetables to go with the rice and Kiyo…sat remarkably loudly. He swore that the stool she was occupying had never been that squeaky before tonight. Chuuya growled slightly in his throat and chopped a little faster, but it didn't help. The squeaking was just too obnoxious. "Kiyo-chan!" he finally snapped, seeing the woman jolt a little as he swerved to look at her. "Sit still and stop making the damn stool squeak!" Chuuya barked before placing his free hand over his eyes, "I can't even hear myself think and I'm trying to cut the vege—" he paused, cutting himself off and removing his hand from his face abruptly. His eyes were starting to sting, and as he looked back down at the vegetable he was cutting, he began to understand why. Onions.

"Shit," Chuuya muttered as his eyes began to water, dropping the kitchen knife on the cutting board like it was made of hot coals and rushing to the sink to wash his hands.

"C-Chuuya-san, what's the…oh…crap, that is an onion…and you put your hand on your face oh crap…you aren't supposed to do that, Chuuya-san…"

"Like I didn't know that, you little dipshit!" Chuuya bellowed, cursing the crack of his voice that came from his onion-induced tears but noting that he'd still gotten Kiyo to flinch. Or at least, it looked like she had through his blurry vision.

"And now you're angry…" Kiyo sighed and slumped a bit before shuffling up to Chuuya as he began to rinse his face off in the water. "How about I finish cutting the vegetables instead?"

"Hell no," Chuuya attempted growl, but it sounded far too garbled under the running water, and she merely snorted in response.

"Chuuya-san, please. Rest your eyes up a bit, and let me make up for the trouble."

"You could make up for the trouble by being quiet."

"And by cutting the rest of the vegetables."

"Kiyo," he warned as straightened up from the sink, but all she did was pass him a towel before picking up the knife and continuing to chop up the onion.

"I'm going to help whether you accept it or not," she stated as he dried off his face.

"I can do it myself."

"Too late, I'm doing it for you."

"You are really pushing your limits right now," Chuuya growled softly.

"Well if I hadn't been fidgeting, you wouldn't have snapped would you? Never let it be said that I don't take responsibility for myself."

Chuuya sighed, relaxing slowly and blinking away any residual onion juice. "Are you really this used to my temper already?"

"This is the fifth time you've snapped at me this month."

"…Sorry," Chuuya murmured as he leaned back over the sink, "it was a dumb reason to snap."

"It's honestly fine, Chuuya-san," Kiyo replied softly, "you didn't scare me."

"…Are you sure?" he frowned slightly, his memory trailing back to the past few times he'd snapped at Kiyo. She was remarkably difficult to stay mad at, despite her usual energy, but he had found in the past two months that sometimes when he snapped too harshly, Kiyo did a little more than simply flinch: she recoiled entirely. Chuuya could swear that she was crying, and yet she simply smiled up at him cheerfully.

"I'm sure. I'm not scared."

"Then why are you crying?"

"Onions," she said blankly as she pointed down at the vegetable she'd just finished cutting.

"Right," Chuuya remarked.

"Thank you for the concern, though."

"You're not gonna let me take over now, are you?"

"Nope."

"You know I'm pretty sure the guest isn't supposed to help the host make dinner."

"Are you the courtesy police of something?"

"Oh that's funny. I cringe at the thought of the police force alone so…yeah, hard no."

"Ooooo, so I take it your job is illegal then? And you know, since I'm gonna chop all the vegetables, you could scramble the eggs and maybe cook any meat you might wanna add."

"Don't order me around in my own kitchen, Kiyo-chan," Chuuya said softly as he straightened up from the sink and ruffled her hair before turning to the counter behind her to get the eggs. "And I don't have to be a criminal to have anti-police sentiments."

"True, but it's not a very common thing for a law abiding person to hate the police from what I've seen. At least, not on the level of cringing at the very thought of them."

"Just because it's not common doesn't mean it doesn't happen."

"Can't you just give me this hint? Just this once?"

Chuuya sighed as he leaned down to grab a bowl, pausing a moment at the plea. "Alright, fine…yes, my job is illegal."

"I knew it!" Kiyo exclaimed, causing him to chuckle a bit.

"You knew it, huh?"

"Well you kept trying to deny it so much, so really I was just waiting for you to admit it."

"Nosy much?"

"Yes, yes I am."

"At least have the decency to deny it…"

"Hmm…I always figured it was better to admit to my flaws. So what did you wanna do after dinner? Besides having dessert."

"I honestly hadn't given it much thought. Just watch some tv, maybe?"

"That sounds like a good plan. And you know, if nothing's on, I do have Heartless City on dvd if you wanna binge a few episodes."

"I see you remembered one of my favorite dramas as well."

"Of course I remembered! It's one of the things we have in common and I like to cherish the things I can share with my friends."

"Friends?"

"…Well if I'm allowed to invite myself over, that does make me a friend, right?"

Chuuya hesitated again, lowering the bowl of eggs that he had just finished stirring and turning to look at Kiyo. She had turned back to look at him as well, her expression fixed with the best set of Bambi eyes he'd ever seen in his life. He couldn't help but snort a little. "I swear, you were definitely a puppy in a past life."

"Hey!"

"But if you must know, yes, I suppose you do count as a friend by now. But only barely," Chuuya clarified as Kiyo's face lit up with joy.

"I'm a friend!" Kiyo declared as she threw a fist up into the air.

"Barely."

"This is a very important moment for me, Chuuya-san, please don't ruin it."

"Oh? My friendship matters that much to you? I'm flattered."

"You're my next door neighbor! Of course your friendship matters to me! You're like my roommate except we don't split the rent."

"Or, you know, actually live together."

"Either way," Kiyo stated cheerfully as she put down the knife she'd been cutting vegetables with and trotted towards the kitchen entrance. "I am proud that I have managed to become your friend. Now since I finished cutting the vegetables, do you mind if I go back to my apartment so I can find Heartless City before dinner?"

"I can't guarantee that I'll let you back in," Chuuya said with a playful smirk on his lips, making Kiyo puff her cheeks out childishly as he turned back towards the stove and grabbed a small pan from the drawer under his oven.

"Chuuya-san, that's mean."

"It was a joke, Kiyo-chan. Yes, you can go get the dvd, just don't take too long getting back and don't leave the door to my apartment open."

"Can I leave it unlocked so I can get back in?"

"Just this once."

"Okay! I'll be right back!"

Chuuya smiled as he poured the eggs onto a frying pan and listened to Kiyo run towards the door. With Kiyo's bright and bubbly nature around, things were looking to get rather interesting tonight.

oooOOOooo

 _astericks:_

 _*Kawasaki is a city just north of Yokohama, and the concert hall Kiyo works at is a fifteen to twenty minutes' drive from Yokohama Station._

 _*Tokyo Symphony Orchestra is a very real Orchestra in Japan, though its concert hall is located in Kawasaki, which is also just south of Tokyo and located in the Kanagawa Prefecture, like Yokohama. It is actually rated as one of the top eight orchestras in Japan, though I do not know its exact listing besides not being part of the top three. It should also be noted that I do not know if the orchestra actually goes on tour internationally—I couldn't find that information._

 _-sidenote: I failed to mention this earlier, but a concertmaster is the highest ranking violinist in the orchestra. In the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, there are two concertmasters, and two assistant concertmasters. Kiyo being a concertmaster straight out of university is exceedingly rare/moderately unrealistic, but I do have a reason for giving her that position that is not based in trying to make her more impressive._

oooOOOooo

 _I swear on my life that this was supposed to be a weekly update or biweekly update, but then, Kiyo and Chuuya would not stop talking (I legitimately struggled in finding a place to end their conversation, and originally this chapter was going to have a second part)_

 _So, disclaimers:_

 _1\. I do not own Bungou Stray Dogs or any of its characters or world, I only own my OCs_

 _2\. Given that I am not Japanese, not a musician, and not multilingual, most of what I will be writing (especially in the case of Kiyo) will be researched, but that does not mean that I will get everything right. Feel free to politely point out anything that I messed up—I stress pointing it out politely._

 _3\. The canon plot to Bungou Stray Dogs will most likely not be touched on in this, whether or not this is pre-canon, canon-divergent, post-canon, or in between canon is something that will likely be left to interpretation. If all else fails though, just imagine that it's Yokohama City whenever things have not gone to shit._

 _4\. Is this a ship fic? Quite possibly. Am I going to 100% definitely make it a romantic ship? Dunno._

 _5\. This fic may or may not end up coming hand in hand with a comic, I'm still trying to decide. If it does it'll most likely be snippets from the chapters and small scenes that happen outside the chapters, as opposed to a comic book version of this._

 _So fave follow and review if you liked it, and I'll make an update as soon as I can!_


	4. PSA

**ALL FICS PSA**

So…before you all lynch me for faking you out, yes, this is not a story update. This is an update on the state of things, a tell all to let you know where in production stage my stories are and to update you on the state of my life and why it's taking so long. So. To begin with the latter…for those of you not already aware, I'm a college student, and as of last semester, an upperclassman. Now last semester I had six classes and that was the reasoning behind my packed schedule, this semester I'm back down to five but I'm also working two jobs and I'm prepping for a school trip to California and doing an amount of work to follow a class I'm not in during my free time.

I've had about…no time to sit down and write in the past month and a half so nothing is being written right now. In fact, for now it is safe to assume that unless I say otherwise (and even if I say otherwise let's be honest here) nothing is in production between late August and mid-December, and nothing is in production between mid-January and early May. So that's the state of my life right now, for those of you that have been asking. As for those of you who have been asking about my fics (mostly about, surprise surprise, Still Dreaming), I'm gonna list the state of each of my fics below here, so if you're waiting on more than one and your inbox is flooded with emails about this one chapter for all of them (Sorry m8) you only have to check one fic to know the state of all of them. So the list goes as follows:

1\. **Still Dreaming:** and after over a year of time to work on it and all the fans asking, the 30th chapter of Still Dreaming is…! …not started yet. I…I'm really sorry guys. I have the entire thing planned out, it's gonna be super long, its gonna tie everything up, it will be the last chapter of this fic and…my muse is completely uncooperative. Now I write fast once my inspiration strikes so I will try to work on and get it done for this coming winter break, but I know myself well enough to not make promises.

2\. **In the Arms of a Thief:** So I actually finished of the rough draft of the upcoming chapter a few weeks ago, but life got busy and my keyboard is currently sticking on several keys so transcribing it onto a computer has been a grueling process

3\. **The Worst Timing:** Much like the readers of Still Dreaming I'm sure all of you are either tired of waiting or no longer interested. Unfortunately, much like Still Dreaming, I have not started the next chapter, and honestly I can't remember where I was going with it. In all likelihood if I can't remember I might pull this story from my library so as not to immerse any other poor souls in it only to leave them hanging (if you still want access to the story you should be able to download it and if you can't just pm me)

4\. **And Hope Died with Her:** Well I have the chapter number written! -kicks self- Okay so honestly this one is extremely uncomfortable for me to write and I struggle to make decisions on it. It might be pulled like The Worst Timing

5\. **Team RRBY:** y'all should know that I posted this prematurely, before I was ready to focus the necessary amount of energy on this au. I want to work on this, and the second chapter is started I just…am very busy.

6\. **Grimm:** Like RRBY, the second chapter is started. It's just not complete.

7\. **Delusions of Grandeur:** So if you're on AO3 you might have noticed that this is your second update today…sorry, that's because I kept forgetting to post the most recent chapter. Either way, you'll be pleased to know that this fic is the most up to date—the last update is recent even on ffn and the next 14 chapters are planned out.

8\. **Frozen Hearts and Stolen Peaches/Neighbors:** I know that between both of these groups there are maybe 20 of you so I'm just combining the section, because it's pretty much the same message. The next installment is started. Just sit tight

9\. **Spelling Lessons:** …I am so sorry. I'm actually overhauling and restarting this because when I started it, there weren't that many episodes out for Little Witch Academia and I had six classes that slowly drowned m and kept me from writing. I based most of my decisions on headcanons that now have, for the most part, been disproven, so I'm going back and playing with the plot a little more. For the sake of it, the first chapter will likely remain the same. The second is up in the air.

And that's everything. I hope this clears everything up. I'll be back as soon as I can.


End file.
